Nambiris Religious Beliefs
Religion was a common source of conflict in ancient Nambirithen. Nambleravera used his conquests to impose the worship of the deity Belzu on the other Grunori communities. While other deities were worshipped, the position that Belzu held as the most prestigious deity helped influence the creation of the later, monotheistic, Zusraist faith. After the founding of Zusraism, repeated conflict between Zusraism, traditional Nambiris polytheism and Iranian polytheism defined the region for centuries. The Ozu The Ozu, lead by Belzu, were the main pantheon of deities prior to the advent of Zusraism. Other deities existed in the Nambiris religion, but they were weaker and often simply servants to the Ozu. Belzu and his fellow deities were said to once be humans, whom sixty of the original humans worshipped, although this number can fluctuate in early stories depending on the source. The sixty humans who worshipped them became the Nambiri, the sixty who didn't became the foreign people of the world, and the five other humans including Belzu were said to have ascended to godhood and become the Ozu. The Ozu are almost always depicted as having five members, but depending on the region Belzu may be either a member of the Ozu or a being much more powerful than them, leaving a regional deity to take his place as the fifth member. Belzu Belzu was once a man who lived under the rule of the Odi pantheon, who eventually tricked them in various ways so that he and the other one hundred and twenty four humans could escape from their rule and into a land in the west. During his escape attempt, he accidentally created rivers when he impaled one of the Odi on a mountain. Belzu helped himself and the other four Ozu to become deities by flying to Heaven on the back of a giant eagle, tying himself to it sixty times to secure himself. Belzu is the god of fresh water, irrigation, kings, authority, law, eagles, and righteous rebellion in Nambiris polytheism. His name, interestingly, is not grammatically correct, in Old Nambiris his name would be Zusbel. This indicates that Old Nambiris was not as uniform as later texts by Nambiris kings claimed. Zusni/Ninzu Zusni was the wife of Belzu and one of the few deities other than Belzu to remain consistently depicted as a member of the Ozu. Zusni was the goddess of the wilderness, of the north, and of lions. Zusni was often seen as a chaotic figure, and often depicted as a deity by birth, contradicting the founding Nambiri myth of the Ozu ascending to godhood. When depicted together, Zusni and Belzu are often said to be fertility deities, while this aspect of them is usually not present when they are mentioned seperately of each other. Enki/Enrizu Enrizu had considerable overlap in domain with Belzu, also being the god of irrigation and fresh water, suggesting that Belzu absorbed some of his attributes when Nambleravera conquered Nambirithen. Enrizu was a deity originally known as Enki and from Mesopotamia, when adopted into the Nambiris pantheon he retained most of his traits, however the Nambiri saw him as the patron deity of the Sumerians in general. Raslazzu Raslazzu was the male counterpart of Zusni, being a god of nature, the wilderness and once again, lions. Raslazzu was also depicted as the ferryman of the underworld, who brought the souls of the dead away to whatever land they were judged to be worthy of, whether it was in the paradise carved from the body of Inodi on the mountain, where Belzu and the sources of all rivers resided, the endless empty sea beyond the Persian Gulf, or the hellish land beneath the Earth. Etsbelzu Etzbelzu was the god of war, of righteous conquest, and of rebellions that were not just. He was commonly depicted as a vulture, circling fields of dead soldiers and feeding on them. He was also sometimes associated with lions, and because of both this and their association with death, some myths combine Raslazzu and Etsbelzu into a single deity. Zusnamnisurten Zusnamnisurten is a more recent addition to the Ozu pantheon, first being mentioned in texts dated to around 2700 BCE. After this time, however, she is the deity most commonly depicted as a member of the Ozu if Belzu is not included. She is almost certainly a mytholigized version of Zusnamninamviori, possibly related to versions of the Sur-Ino-O-Ri-Et-Nam-Ni spreading via word of mouth and subsequently becoming corrupted. Zusnamnisurten's qualities change from depiction to depiction, but she was often considered the goddess of leadership and law. During the reign of Etzusnambelri, who had political reasons to not like Zusnamninamviori due to ending her dynasty, she also became the goddess of chaos and corruption, but these qualities became increasingly forgotten about in later myths. The Odi Pandi Ordi Inodi Zusraism Suzua Zusra Inra Enkigal Category:Religion